“Logan” Scribe On Charles Flashback Cut

Now that “Logan” is out in cinemas, those involved are talking about some of the story’s big spoilers including screenwriter Michael Green who has spoken about one of the earlier versions of the script showing what is otherwise only hinted at in the final film.

SERIOUS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR “LOGAN” AHEAD

The story is set in 2029, a time after two major mutant related incidents have happened. The first is that no new mutant has been born in 25 years, the reason for and method by which is ultimately revealed via Dr. Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant) as genetically modified corn crops leading to sterility of the mutant X-Gene which is no longer able to survive or be passed on in utero.

It’s a slow but effective method of genocide, and all done via high fructose corn syrup. How effective it was outside the United States, where natural cane sugar is used instead of the cheaper and unhealthier HFCS as a sweetener, is unclear.

Completely separate from that, though quite a few people have confused the two as being linked, is an incident in Westchester, New York (home of Xavier’s school). Referred to several times in the film, it left over six hundred injured and numerous mutants dead.

The incident was triggered by Professor X’s dementia which has turned the powerful mutant into a psionic resonator of sorts – sending out waves of telepathic energy that hurts humans and is even more harmful to mutantkind. In fact the Government has classified Charles’ brain as a weapon of mass destruction.

The scenes at an Oklahoma casino where Charles suffers another seizure gives us a likely idea of what happened but the film doesn’t say definitively either way. Green reveals at one point the film had a flashback revealing what took place – ultimately though the production team decided to cut it. He tells Heat Vision:

“It [the theatrical version] actually hits home a lot harder than the versions that really painted out specifically the flashback. Of course there are versions we wrote that were never filmed with the actual flashback of what happened, but I’ve found the experience of watching it is far more poignant to just know that it was something really regrettable and it was bad and most likely, friends were lost. Or maybe it was people we didn’t know.”

The film’s director James Mangold says his reason for cutting it was “less about information and more about character.” Patrick Stewart meanwhile is playing the guessing game: “Was it Logan? Was it Charles? It was probably Charles but he doesn’t know. He has no memory; he has no recollection. He has an instinct, an impulse, that something happened and it was bad.”

Green adds that there are no plans to officially reveal the hidden backstory.